MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s largest gold producer Polyus Gold increased gold production by 27 percent in January-March 2012, year on year, to 327,700 troy ounces, the company said on Tuesday.
The company’s gold output expanded in the reporting period after the company built up production at the Olimpiada and Blagodatnoye gold mines in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in East Siberia and the Kuranakh gold mine in Yakutia in northeast Russia.
The company also attributed its gold output growth to the launch of the Verninskoye gold mine in the Irkutsk Region in East Siberia.
Average selling gold prices grew by 23 percent in the reporting period to $1,702 per ounce.
“With a 27-percent organic year-on-year increase in production and good progress at our development projects, supported by a substantial increase in the mineral base, Polyus Gold remains well positioned to continue to deliver on its growth plans,” Polyus Gold CEO German Pikhoya said.
Headquartered in Moscow, Polyus Gold’s operating mines and development and exploration projects are located in five major gold mining regions in Russia: the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region, the Far Eastern Magadan and Amur regions, and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).